Month: October 2022

How to use PassKeys with iOS 16

Never again will you need to remember a long five-digit password when signing in to your favorite app or website. With the release of iOS 16, users are given the option to replace passwords with digital keys while still having access to their fingerprints or face detection.

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So what are PassKeys, and how do they function? Read on to learn more about how to use PassKeys with your iOS 16 device.

What does the passkey mean, and how does it work with iOS 16?

As mentioned above, PassKeys are digital keys. These keys are stored on all your Apple devices and are meant to replace passwords. These digital keys use Apple’s cloud keychain tech and sync all your Apple devices. These PassKeys are also linked to the app you created them for.

This reduces the risk of phishing attacks where someone tries to sign you up for a fake website or app. PassKeys are one of the most secure features released by Apple. You can now have complete and instant access to all your accounts and apps without remembering any passwords.

How are PassKeys different from the cloud keychain?

Although the cloud keychain does a similar thing where it auto-enters usernames and passwords, PassKeys are more secure. With this feature, there is no password. Instead, a cryptographic key pair is created once you create an account. One key stays with the app server, and the other key is stored in the cloud keychain. This private key remains unknown. When trying to log in, your phone authorizes PassKeys using Face ID or Touch ID, and this authentication is sent to the app.

How safe is passkey in comparison with LastPass?

Lastpass is ideal for businesses with multiple users. There are charges per user. Although the system is secure, it gets expensive to scale up. PassKeys, on the other hand, are free to use. However, this is purely for personal use.

The setup for Lastpass is not that easy as compared with PassKeys. The support quality for Lastpass is also not that great compared to PassKeys.

What is the procedure to activate PassKeys for iOS 16?

  1. Create an account

    How to use PassKeys with iOS 16

    To use PassKeys on your iPhone, you first need to check which apps and websites it supports. You will need to enter your password as usual for websites not supported.

    Before using PassKeys, you must first create an account on their site. After creating your account, you will find your saved PassKeys under the passwords menu in the settings section. This section will also tell you for which sites PassKeys have been created.

  2. Enable PassKeys

    How to use PassKeys with iOS 16

    To switch on PassKeys, all you need to do is go to settings. From there, you need to click on profile and iCloud. Then you need to select passwords and keychain. You must then click on sync this iPhone. After that, you need to enter your iPhone and iCloud passcodes to proceed.

Secure your iPhone

Overall, PassKeys is an excellent iOS 16 feature and can go a long way to secure your personal information. To check more features of the iOS 16, download the latest version here. If you’re looking for new iOS 16 chargers, read more here to know if you need one. You can also check out App Lock or Password Manager if you’re looking for similar password apps.

Twitter and Instagram accounts are for sale on the Black Market

The Black Market isn’t really a place as much as an industry of sorts. The Black Market can refer to any illicit trades or sales made where the providence of the product cannot or should not be questioned. Even though the Black Market is primarily known through the media for dodgy dealings in art and human organs, your digital valuables are no safer, even on Instagram.

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A recent report by Avast entitled ‘Blue Checks on the Black Market,’ briefly discusses the rise in illegal sales of verified Instagram and Twitter accounts. As many of you will know, being verified on either platform grants you the use of a blue check placed next to your name, indicating that you are who you say you are. However, these marks mean so much more due to the constraints involved with acquiring them. Essentially, these marks make your account more lucrative and, thus, more attractive to threat actors. 

In order to safeguard yourself from an attack that could see your account stripped from you, you need to know how to recognize such an occurrence. The basics of the phishing attacks used to pry access to your verified social media accounts away from you are simple to grasp. Basically, the attack usually starts with what is termed a phishing email. This is an email with leading text that usually appeals to your sense of security.

Therefore, the email might alert you to a Twitter or Instagram account breach. The email will look strikingly legitimate, but it’s of cardinal importance that you verify the email address before taking any kind of action. If it is not an official Twitter or Instagram email address, do nothing. 

Twitter and Instagram accounts are for sale on the Black Market

Next, you’ll be prompted to enter your full account details, including your password and username. This is how the threat actors gain access to your account. From here, they can use your account for anything, including selling it for a profit. Your verified social media accounts are incredibly valuable to threat actors as they represent a way to give legitimacy to whatever scams or fraudulent activity they’re involved in.

Don’t let this happen to you. In other, more positive news, Meta is toying with the idea of adding a built-in post-scheduling utility to the Instagram ecosystem.

Discord has been clearing thousands of servers and millions of accounts

The increasingly popular social media platform, Discord, recently published its quarterly safety and transparency report. This report showed some serious house-cleaning efforts made by the platform, banning and disabling thousands of accounts suspected of spam-related offenses or other actions against the platform’s rules.

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In total, 55,573,411 user accounts and 68,379 servers were disabled between January and June of this year. Most of these accounts were banned for spam-related offenses, with only 1,821,721 removed for other reasons such as child safety or exploitative and unsolicited content.

This number of account removal may seem significant, but on a platform as popular as Discord, it’s essential to ensure all users’ safety. So far, this move seems to be justified, especially when looking at the number of successful appeals. Only 2% of appeals were successful after the first quarter, whereas in the second quarter, less than 1% of appeals were reinstated. This illustrates how seriously the platform takes these bans and how careful they investigate before disabling accounts to make sure the platform is safe for all users.

Discord also reported that they were able to act on 24% of reported infractions between January and March and 22% of those reported between April and June. These steady numbers show an active interest in monitoring the platform. They also stated that they welcome appeals and are more than happy to reinstate accounts if they made a mistake, or the user can provide more details they weren’t aware of. 

https://discord.en.softonic.com/articles/discord-exciting-new-features

Discord is taking an active stand in trying to create a safe environment for its users to connect and create. We’re starting to see a lot more of this on social media platforms. Even Twitter has plans to create a content moderation council to help keep the platform safe for all users. Elon Musk, the official owner of Twitter, has announced this plan.

Among its commitment to making the platform safer, Discord is also releasing new features to keep users entertained and having fun. We look forward to seeing what else the platform has in store.

Chrome 107 issues a fix for the browser’s latest vulnerability

Google Chrome has been plagued by a zero-day vulnerability known as CVE-2022-3723. According to experts, this is a Type Confusion flaw that affects Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. Avertium, a cybersecurity organization, describes the flaw as one that lets bad actors trick your browser into running malware that it believes is legitimate data. 

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According to Avertium, these Chrome V8 engine attacks, while uncommon, are some of the most dangerous. Luckily. Google has released a brand new version of its Chrome web browser, Version 107, which issues a fix for the Type Confusion vulnerability. This is just one of 14 individual fixes that this new version includes, so it’s definitely advisable to download it as soon as you can. 

This zero-day vulnerability patch, however, is the most severe part of the entire update. Other than that, the company has issued a few fixes for browser extensions and data validations. The browser has also been kitted out with a few new features that we’ll discuss briefly, but before we get into that, we’d like just to remind you once more to update to the latest version of Chrome. 

As for new features, the bulk of these is primarily centered around future-proofing the browser. This means that you’ll see features included in the new update that basically prevent Chrome from becoming outdated. To this end, there are a few new changes coming to video conferencing so that the utility becomes a little more user-friendly. You’ll also likely see a new screen-sharing hotkey soon that will let you switch tabs more easily while you share your screen. 

Chrome 107 issues a fix for the browser’s latest vulnerability

There are a number of other possible new features that are claimed to be in the update. However, even though these features were reported by fairly reputable sources, we don’t know how much of them are real or factual.

In other Chrome news, There are a number of fake Chrome extensions going around that people are falling prey to. Familiarize yourself with these impostors so that you don’t get tricked unto downloading them.

Is TikTok moving into gaming?

TikTok, the world-renowned addictive social media application by Chinese developer ByteDance, seems to be moving toward the gaming industry. Is it too much to ask that the platform make a concrete decision as to whether it wants to pursue gaming or not? 

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Back in May this year, TikTok was reportedly testing HTML5 games within Vietnam. While there was no context at the time, such a move usually means that a company is considering adding gaming to its repertoire of services. However, fast forward a few months to September, and we learned that ByteDance was ‘aggressively downsizing’ its gaming repertoire. As such, we could have been forgiven at the time for believing that TikTok’s foray into gaming was at an end. How wrong could we be?

As it turns out, potentially incredibly wrong. As it turns out, TikTok is yet again flirting with the idea of hosting games on its platform. This news comes courtesy of the Financial Times of all sources. Pitifully, the Financial Times believes itself to be of such high quality that its readers be expected to pay to read articles. Thus, it falls on altruistic writers like myself to give you the details, free and fair. The Financial Times has declared that TikTok will soon launch a new in-app channel dedicated to the platform’s gaming pursuits. 

This decision is bound to affect the company both in the short-term and long run; however, it seems to echo a similar move by other major platforms. Netflix, for example, is also branching out into gaming. While the core idea doesn’t make sense, diversification is a way to ensure interest and thus shore up capital. 

Interestingly, insiders say that TikTok will reveal the new feature at the platform’s first gaming event. The event is expected to stream live on November 2nd, 2022, and will be called TikTok Made Me Play It. As part of the event, the platform will host speakers representing major gaming studios such as EA and 2K. Let’s all remember, though, that TikTok is ByteDance IP.

Is TikTok moving into gaming?

ByteDance is a Chinese company, and under Chinese law, it is required to hand over all user data collected to the Chinese Communist Party. We’ve all seen TikTok’s sketchy data collection practices. Either way, the platform would like you to know that ‘The future of gaming is here—and it’s happening on TikTok. Join us to discover why TikTok is the gaming industry’s #1 gateway to growth. Featuring top gaming publishers & TikTok Creators.’

In other news, TikTok has added a feature for adult-only broadcasting. Is this enough to keep children safe?

YouTube brings separate tabs for Shorts, Live Streams, and videos

Users asked, and YouTube answered. That’s right; YouTube has made quite a few improvements to its app based on recent user feedback. These improvements should make it easier for users to find the type of content they want when checking out a creator’s channel. These improvements include separate tabs for Shorts, live streams and long-form videos. Let’s take a closer look.

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The first new feature on YouTube will be the Shorts Tab. This new tab can be found on all creator’s channels and will feature all the short-form videos and content created. If a user is watching a short from their feed and decides they want to see what other videos the creator has, they can navigate to the channel and immediately be taken to the shorts tab to see similar content.

Channels will also be receiving a live streams tab. Here, users can see all live-stream content from a particular creator. This includes current live streams, scheduled live streams, and archived live streams. You can find this on the creator’s channel by swiping through the tabs to find ‘Live Streams.’ This feature will make it easier for users to stay on top of their favorite live stream creators or easily access previous live streams if they missed them.

The regular videos tab on a channel will continue to include all long-form video content. Users will also no longer see any shorts or live streams in the video content as all of this will be moved to the appropriate new tabs. 

YouTube brings separate tabs for Shorts, Live Streams, and videos

This update may seem small, but it’ll make a big difference in how users find the content they enjoy. Not everyone enjoys 10-minute-long videos and prefers quick little bites of content. Now, you don’t have to scroll through numerous videos just to get the type of content you enjoy. You simply navigate to the channel and choose the tab that suits your preferences.

These are not the only new features, as YouTube rolled out Zoom features a while back. These tab features started rolling out on October 27th and should be visible on most devices already. If you don’t see these new tabs on the channels in your version of YouTube, make sure that the app is updated.

The Callisto Protocol will not be ‘big in Japan’

The Callisto Protocol is an upcoming title by Striking Distance Studios. We previously reported on the trailer for the game, in which we remarked on how gory and gruesome the game looks. As it turns out, these creative choices by the developers would lead to the game being banned in Japan ahead of its release. 

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The game centers around protagonist Jacob Lee and his misadventures onboard the space-based prison Black Iron. As stated previously, the game is set to be a straight up gore fest with one part of the trailer even showing Lee torn to pieces by a turbine blade. 

According to a recent post by the game’s official Japanese account, Callisto Protocol has officially been banned due to failure to obtain a CERO rating. While we can only speculate at this stage about the exact reason that the CERO rating could not be granted, it’s no secret that the game will contain objectionable material. 

Among the themes that the game will contain are depictions of gratuitous violence and realistic portrayals of gore. It certainly doesn’t help that the developer has admitted to taking inspiration for the upcoming game from ‘real-life examples of horror and gore.’

In order to obtain the CERO rating, the devs would have had to have made numerous changes to the game. We don’t know exactly what type of modifications were required, but, whatever they were, it looks as though the devs were unwilling to implement them. This is likely because doing so would have led to the game deviating from the dev’s original vision. 

The Callisto Protocol will not be 'big in Japan'

This comes as a detriment to the members of the Japanese public who have already pre-ordered the game. Although, the devs have assured us that those in Japan who have pre-ordered the game will be refunded. 

The Callisto Protocol launches on December 2nd for the rest of the global market on PC/ Xbox One and Series X|S, PS4, and PS5. If you haven’t heard, the Callisto Protocol will reward players for dying in different ways. This means you have even more incentive to revel in the violence and gore that has been banned in Japan.

Google announces improved interoperability between Zoom and Google Meet

One of the key aspects of the battle between Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 in recent weeks has been interoperability. We have seen both productivity suites announcing a raft of features designed to make their programs able to work with third-party apps more efficiently, including even boosting interoperability between the likes of Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Today we can report on a further move in this direction as Google has announced it is partnering with Zoom to ensure Google Meet users can hold virtual meetings with more people.

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Google has announced via a Google Cloud blog post that it has finalized a partnership deal with Zoom that will enable bi-directional interoperability between the two video conferencing apps. The move means that users across both platforms will be able to meet with each other, simply by clicking on a calendar invite or entering a meeting code.

There is one interesting consideration, however, that users will need to take into account. All Zoom users will be able to seamlessly join conference calls and meeting on Google Meet but there will be limitations on which Google Meet users can join Zoom calls. Only Google Meet users who are running ChromeOS-based Meet devices will be able to join Zoom calls. There is no news about why there is this limitation but the Google Cloud blog post announcing the move did mention that it would be like this “at launch” meaning the interoperability features may roll out to all Google Meet users at some point in the future.

Traditionally, Zoom and Google Meet would be competitive apps trying to get one over on each other, but this is a smart move from Google as it opens up seamless interactions for businesses that use Google Workspace with the many businesses that use Zoom for their video communications.

In other Google Workspace news, users now have access to enhanced scheduling options when organizing meetings.

Elon Musk’s controversial Twitter deal has been completed

Twitter has been besieged with problems for a while now as it struggles secure sufficient profits to appease investors, deal with a visible bot problem on the network, and, more recently, attempting to push Elon Musk to follow through with the huge $44 billion deal the struck for the company. Today, however, after a tumultuous few months of back and forths, Musk’s deal has been finalized and he now owns Twitter and all its problems. Let’s take a look at what has gone on and what is happening at Twitter now.

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Musk agreed a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion months ago but seemed to get buyer’s remorse as Twitter’s value plummeted. What followed were weeks of direct Twitter bashing from Musk as he was seemingly trying to raise all the issues, he saw with the site that could invalidate the deal that had been struck. However, once it started to become apparent that he wouldn’t be able to get out of the deal, Musk pulled back his barbed attacks and finalized the deal. He is now in charge of the company with both Parag Agrawal and Ned Segal, Twitter’s CEO and CFO, both reportedly having left the social network’s team.

The billionaire has stated many times that he wanted to buy Twitter to protect free speech, a sentiment he followed up with a note to advertisers he tweeted yesterday afternoon. In it he said:

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”

Musk’s mission to ensure a common digital town square exists where a wide range of beliefs exists should be lauded but it raises the question of what exactly far right-wing and far left-wing views are and who gets to decide upon the platforms they receive. With such importance being placed upon the need to have a common digital town square, is it appropriate that a single billionaire gets to decide who the prominent voices will be who can speak there?

Interestingly, there are many right-wing owned alternatives to Twitter such as Parler, which Ye, or Kanye West as he used to be called, is reportedly on the verge of acquiring. These have been created to air views censored on the more mainstream networks, while there are few if any left-wing alternatives. The worry here is that potentially, by protecting free speech, Musk could offer a way for these views to be amplified once again as they gain access to the much higher user base offered by Musk’s Twitter.

For now, however, we should marvel at the fact that something big has happened here with one of the world’s richest men gaining control over a key meeting point of minds in the modern world. This is something we will have to keep an eye on and will endeavor to keep you up to date with all the biggest developments.

In other recent Twitter news, the social network has been beefing up its video features.

Microsoft Outlook will soon help you keep on top of your contacts

Microsoft Outlook has received several updates recently, including a redesigned app and integration with a new Microsoft To Do app. We also recently covered a host of email contact-management updates and today can bring you news of a further update in this manner. It looks like Microsoft is working on an update for Outlook that will automatically remove all duplicated contacts from your address book.

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A new entry has been spotted on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, which Microsoft uses to announce upcoming tweaks and minor updates to Microsoft 365 apps and programmes. The entry describes a new feature called Contact Deduplication, which will roll out to Outlook for Web users.

According to the entry, the move is designed to help users stay on top of their email contact lists and stop them from getting out of control with duplicated contacts. It says:

“People are at the center of our lives, and we start every digital connection via contacts. Hence, a clean, up-to-date contact list is critical for better collaboration and productivity. We are happy to announce that cleaning up duplicate contacts just got a lot easier with the de-duplication feature in Outlook Web App (OWA).”

The new feature should already be rolling out on a Worldwide General Availability basis as the entry says that it will be available in September 2022. However, unless you know that you have duplicated contacts in your address book there will be no way to check if you have received the update or not. This is just one of those quality-of-life features that will work away in the background.

In other recent news, you may want to think about augmenting your security details on Microsoft Outlook.